Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 645 An Unexpected Huge Gain

If Ji An hadn't been strong enough, he would be dead by now. How could he have left behind such a threat, showing no mercy when it came to killing?

"Heh! So this is the activation of the Solidifying Metal talisman? Too bad it was a step too late, only activating at the moment of death. Tsk tsk, weak!"

He couldn't understand why the female cultivator had a metal-solidifying talisman while the sword cultivator didn't. Were all sword cultivators this confident?
Indeed, this factor played a part in the truth of the matter. Master Mingyue was very confident, so he gave all his life-saving talismans to his Daoist partner.

Ji An watched the golden light fall, and the magical artifact that had transformed into a fire dragon let out a mournful cry. Its spiritual light suddenly dimmed, and it transformed back into its original form and fell down.

Judging from its appearance, this magic weapon should be the opponent's natal magic weapon.

Feeling a pang of regret, Ji An used his object manipulation technique to grab the magical artifact and examine it closely before letting out another sigh:
"A top-grade third-tier magic weapon, what a pity."

The spiritual power of the magical artifact is severely damaged; only a natal magical artifact will exhibit this state when its owner dies.

Although the magical artifact has lost its value, it cannot be abandoned here.

Ji An didn't know the reason for the attack. It was either because he was being targeted while trading spiritual herbs in the Immortal City, or it was the work of a competitor.

In any case, we can no longer operate in the vicinity.

He landed and tried to put the cultivator who was wrapped in the Solidifying Gold Technique into the Void Stone, but found that he couldn't put him in at all.

He slapped his forehead, subconsciously ignoring the fact that the enemy had storage bags or spatial artifacts like Void Stones, and only thinking about getting back to the place where he was attacked as soon as possible.

Crimson clouds spread out from beneath his feet, lifting Ji An and the other two. Now he had two choices: either destroy the spell with brute force or wait for its effects to wear off. He chose the latter.

The black, lifeless bones were piled up haphazardly, the silver flying sword was dull and its spiritual power greatly diminished, and the only spoils of war were a Void Stone Ring.

"A top-grade third-tier magic weapon, also a natal magic weapon. Hopefully, there's something in the Void Stone."

Ji An activated the Azure Lotus Burning Heart Flame to incinerate the enemy's corpses. The corpses, like rotten trees, turned to ashes in just a few breaths.

"It would be a waste to use lightning techniques against Golden Core level cultivators."

A corpse without a spirit cannot be used as fertilizer. Fortunately, there is still one corpse that has preserved its spirit, which is a consolation prize.

He sheathed his flying sword and fled on a cloud. After nightfall, he changed his crimson fire cloud into a black water cloud.

He changed his route, no longer flying towards the next immortal city as usual, but instead turning back directly to Cloud Sea Immortal City.

If you encounter a thief, that's fine, but if it's a competitor using underhanded tactics, you need to be more vigilant.

He wasn't afraid of challenges from those at the Golden Core stage, but he feared that some alchemy shop might be colluding with a True Monarch, and that the old man might bully the weak, leaving him with nothing but ashes.

From now on, you must stay obediently in the Immortal City, or take the teleportation array to other major Immortal Cities for trade, and you must not leave the protective array of the Immortal City even for half a step.

Ji An had inquired and learned that the teleportation arrays leading to other immortal cities had unpredictable opening times and would only open when a certain number of people were gathered, and the same applied to the return journey.

Sometimes it takes a long time to wait, and sometimes it can be done in a day.

If one person were to bear all the teleportation costs, they could enjoy the express service, but it's simply not worthwhile to bear the cost of thousands of high-grade spirit stones alone.

The next day, Ji An returned to Cloud Sea Immortal City. The corpse of the Jie Xiu lay quietly in the Void Stone, and he also kept the three Void Stone rings.

He landed at the entrance of the Crimson Flame Pavilion, entered the hall, and after exchanging nods with Li Qingqiu, went up to the second floor.

"Senior brother, why did you come back early?"

Han Yan was slightly surprised. Her senior brother's travel schedule was relatively fixed, about once every three months, and each trip lasted for seven days.

Today is only the fifth day since I left, and I shouldn't be coming back.

"I encountered a sneak attack from cultivators, so I didn't go to the two immortal cities behind and came back early. It was two cultivators in the late Golden Core stage who made the move."

Han Yan's eyes flashed with worry. She carefully examined Ji An for a few moments and then let out a long sigh of relief.

"It's a miracle we escaped. We can stop running the pill business from now on, but Senior Brother must not be harmed."

If the other party returns to the sect, the entire Crimson Flame Summit will unleash even stronger vitality, and the Pill Cauldron Academy will obtain a more abundant supply of high-grade spiritual fruits and medicines.

In terms of cultivation level, the other party was very young when he broke through to the middle stage of the Golden Core realm, and there is a high probability that he will break through to the late stage of the Golden Core realm in the future.

Moreover, she believed that if the other party had good fortune, there was a chance of them reaching the Nascent Soul realm.

Ji An smiled and nodded, "I will not leave the area covered by the Immortal City Array from now on, so Junior Sister, please be careful."

The battle ended before he even released his Tier 3 top-grade puppet to test his true combat power.

He had a clearer understanding of his own strength. He had previously felt that he was virtually invincible in the Golden Core stage, and now he was completely certain of it.

"Don't worry about me. I haven't left Yunhai Immortal City since I came to Zhongzhou."

A hint of joy appeared in Han Yan's eyes. Why do cultivators travel out to seek opportunities? Most of the time, it's out of necessity that they have to because their cultivation has stagnated.

If one's cultivation progresses steadily without encountering bottlenecks, no cultivator would be willing to endure hardship outdoors.

She has no shortage of elixirs here, and has time to study alchemy every day, living a truly happy life.

Once she returns to Xizhou, as long as the materials for the Fire Essence Pill are in sufficient supply, she will be able to refine enough pills for her fellow disciples.

Ji An took out the medicinal herbs from the Void Stone and placed them on the table, saying in a deep voice:

"Here are the materials for ten batches of Vermilion Bird Flame Grass Pills and five batches of Jade Flower Pills, as well as the materials for two batches of Fire Essence Pills. The shop can stay afloat for a while longer."

You announce that a trade fair will be held in the shop in three months, where I will be selling three Golden Core Pills, two of which are of high quality. If you are interested, you can exchange them for Fire Essence Pill materials.

I still have some Tier 3 pine nuts; I can exchange them for some auxiliary medicine. In addition, I need to sell twelve Qi-Nourishing Pills, which can be exchanged for materials from the Vermilion Bird Tobacco Pill.”

His cooperation with the Feiyun Zhenren family never stopped, and he obtained a lot of Golden Core Pills and Qi Cultivation Pills, but he exchanged most of the pills for Purple Cloud Jade Mushroom Pills.

Han Yan nodded obediently, "So many pills, I couldn't have imagined it before I broke through to the Golden Core stage. I didn't realize that Senior Brother has become so powerful."

In the past, a sect could only obtain one Golden Core Pill every few decades, but now the Golden Core Pills stored in the secret vault are enough for all sect members to use.

Once the Golden Core Elixir cultivated by the sect has matured, it will be able to achieve self-sufficiency.

She believes that many major events that have occurred in the sect over the years have had a far-reaching impact. One of them is the many inheritances that her senior brother obtained in the Central Continent and the formation of the Golden Core. Another is that the sect discovered the depleted spiritual vein at the foot of Crimson Flame Peak.

These major events have rapidly increased the sect's foundation. If there is a cultivation method that directly leads to the Nascent Soul level, the sect will surely be able to produce a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

The two started talking about other things, and Han Yan spoke up again:

"Li Qingshuang has now mastered the refining of Vermilion Bird Flame Grass Pill and Jade Flower Pill. She asked me to leave so that another member of the clan could take her place, and I agreed."

After observing them for the past few months, she discovered that neither Li Qingshuang nor Li Qingqiu had particularly good alchemy talent; they were only slightly better than ordinary alchemists.

The two had devoted themselves to these two prescriptions for many years, but their skills improved slowly.

She believed that the other party's choice was very correct. Instead of spending time practicing other alchemical formulas, it would be better to focus on mastering the formulas they already knew.

Ji An nodded slightly, "As long as the Li family continues to provide a stable and sufficient supply of medicinal materials, that's fine. I'm just afraid that the supply of the Vermilion Flame Grass Pill and the Jade Flower Pill will be greatly reduced in the future."

The saying "the disciple starves the master" perfectly describes the current situation.

Han Yan smiled and said, "This trend is inevitable; we can only slow it down."

It's better to let go now than to cause trouble later; the Fire Essence Pill is what we should value most.

If they want to train alchemists skilled in refining Fire Essence Pills through us, they should at least train them to the Golden Core level, right?

"Hehe, that's unlikely for the next seventy or eighty years. We have plenty of time to seek other partners."

Ji An had never seen the other party's cunning side before, and smiled wryly:
"Junior sister has such profound insight, it makes me seem petty."

"Hehe, Senior Brother just didn't focus his attention on these trivial matters."

By the way, Master Guangping sent word that they will deliver the promised medicinal herbs to the Crimson Flame Pavilion within two months at most.

"Good news, we'll be able to get dozens more batches of medicinal herbs."

After chatting for a while longer, Ji An took his leave, and before departing, he gave Ji An some instructions:
“When Junior Sister travels between the Immortal City and her cave, she places the puppet in the position where it is easiest to activate.”

"Senior brother, do you feel things have become that dangerous?"

Han Yan was surprised. Encountering a Tribulation Cultivator in the Immortal City and encountering one outside the Immortal City were two completely different things.

The grand formation of the immortal city can detect where there are strong fluctuations of spiritual energy, and the order that the controller absolutely will not allow to be trampled upon.

"You never go too far wrong."

"I understand."

After leaving the Crimson Flame Pavilion, Ji An bought ten bottles of the body fluid of the Spirit-Slaying Insect at a large general store.

He returned to his cave in Blackrock Mountain and immediately hid in his little world. Now it was time to open the blind box.

The three hollow stones were arranged in a row and corroded with insect sap.

Bottle after bottle of insect liquid was poured in, and the spatial restrictions of the Void Stone were pierced.

Ji An immediately probed his divine sense to retrieve the contents. Various jade bottles, jade boxes, jade slips, and other items were scattered haphazardly on the ground.

The Dao patterns on the surface of the Void Stone quickly faded and disappeared, eventually turning into a cloud of powder.

"So poor? Shouldn't a late-stage Golden Core cultivator be rolling in money?"

Ji An was speechless. There wasn't a single magical artifact or even a spiritual weapon inside.

There were several pink jade slips, and he casually picked one up and stuck it on his forehead.

It's good that it's not banned; it's still a cultivation technique, but it focuses on dual cultivation.

He picked up another jade slip, which contained insights into the dual cultivation technique.

He picked up another jade slip, which contained cultivation insights.

"Damn it, with that kind of attitude, it's no wonder I killed you."

Ji An spat. He had spent all his cultivation time in bed practicing dual cultivation, so it was understandable that his combat ability was not strong.

He picked up the other jade slips, most of which were sealed, like combination locks, but much more complicated, making them extremely difficult to open.

He sighed, picked up the last jade slip, and pressed it to his forehead. This one was not sealed.

His divine sense swept over the area, and his eyes widened suddenly. He had recorded the refining process of a certain pill, which he had tried three times, all of which ended in failure.

The name of the pill formula is only three characters, but it carries immense weight in Ji An's heart—the Nascent Soul Pill.

(End of this chapter)